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FEBRUARY DURABLE ORDERS UP

A rise in orders for military equipment pushed factory orders for durable goods up 1.5 percent in February from the January level, the Government reported today. It was the first gain since November and only the second since last July, when the current recession began.

The new report revised January's orders decline from December to 2.1 percent. The Government had originally reported a 1.5 percent dip. Orders had dropped two-tenths of 1 percent in December after rising 2.8 percent in November, it said.

The Commerce Department report said that orders for transportation equipment were up 9 percent, to $19.5 billion in February. ''Over two-thirds of the increase came from the motor vehicle and parts industry,'' it said. Nevertheless, the department said, the overall level of factory orders for the month would have declined one-tenth of 1 percent from January, if it had not been for the 16.7 percent increase in military goods. 'A Good Harbinger'

Lacy Hunt, economist for Fidelity Bank in Philadelphia, called the report a ''good harbinger of an early recovery from the recession.'' He said that the improvement in orders ''will serve to reinforce recovery in the consumer sector, which is already under way.''

The value of orders for military capital goods has risen about 76 percent since November, reaching a seasonally adjusted level of $8.5 billion in February, the Commerce Department report showed.

Overall orders for durable goods -relatively expensive items such as machinery and major household appliances that normally last three years or more - totaled a seasonally adjusted $79.3 billion in February, 1.5 percent below the same month in 1981.

Durable goods orders have been depressed for months, partly because of the recession and partly because of high interest rates, which make it expensive to buy major items on credit. Nonmilitary Goods Off

''The largest decrease in new orders was in the primary metals industry, where orders have been falling since last July,'' the report said. February orders were down 6.6 percent from January, to $8.5 billion, the lowest number since June 1977, it said.

New orders for machinery were down seven-tenths of 1 percent, to $26.7 billion, and orders for household durable goods such as furniture and appliances declined 3.9 percent from January, to a value of $4.7 billion.